The Patron Saint of Pussy Grabbing

Right off the top, I’m laying some ground rules. It is not my intent to put forward ANY political position on this blog. I have one sole purpose for this blog, and it is to expose just how stupid religion is. My feelings about gun control, abortion, taxation, the UN, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, the Green Party, gerrymandering, road funding, the military, special interests, PACs, foreign aid, war, immigration, campaign finance, universal healthcare, condoms, Israel, forest management, trade deals, states rights, and any other topic other than religion is 1) off limits, and 2) off limits. I won’t tell you my opinion on this blog, and I will delete your comments.

I actually enjoy a good political back-and-forth, and it is not my intent to prevent any free speech. However, I could be opening a Pandora’s box here, and nobody has time for that. Therefore, I will be VERY tight on allowing the conversation to stray. Stay on target, that’s all I’m saying.

Obviously from the title, I’m talking about Trump. And very, very specifically, I’m talking about how the “religious right” has abandoned absolutely everything they claim to care about for this guy, and follow him with cult-like fervor.

That’s it. Religious people are hypocrites and engage in magical thinking. That is the only topic of discussion. Thank you for understanding and complying with my request.

On to the actual topic.

I have been around long enough to remember the religious right losing their collective shit over a bunch of issues. The office of the President of the United States especially was of particular interest, because this person naturally has the ability to affect policies that affect the world.

Let’s list a bunch of things Christians used to say were vitally important in a President: Must be Christian. Must be truthful. Must be faithful. Must have a strong sense of personal responsibility.  Must be pro-life. Must pray to God. Must not cheat on his wife. Must be against “the gays”.  Did I miss anything, generally?

Remember how much Christians screamed during Bill Clinton’s presidency? He was immoral, and he just had to go. Anyone that would cheat on their wife was not fit to be president. They were CLAMORING for his impeachment.  But suddenly the tone has COMPLETELY changed.  Now the tag line is “we didn’t hire him because he is perfect, we hired him to get things done!”

First, it’s just an admission of the right that Trump is anything BUT a “good Christian”.  They know Trump cheats on his wife.  And they also know he never takes responsibility for failure.  He fails either because it was “someone else’s fault” and he then makes fun of them, or because he “used the system” in a weird, incomprehensible excuse.  They know Trump lies.  They know Trump trying to pray would sound like Whoopi Goldberg in “Sister Act.”  They know all of these things at least are possible, and given the absolute best interpretation of the things we know beyond a shadow of a doubt, Trump is a vile, reprehensible character.  But they still support him.

And it really isn’t about the issues.  If it was about issues, then what was wrong with Jeb Bush?  Or Ben Carson?  Or Christie, Cruz, Fiorina, Gilmore, Graham, Huckabee, Jindal, Kasich, Pataki, Paul, Perry, Rubio, Santorum, or Walker?  Every one of them would most assuredly have appointed a conservative judge, passed conservative laws, and carried on conservatively in foreign affairs.  And for the most part, there would be no need to apologize for any of these candidates behavior.

No, I can’t believe that any particular political issues are the only reason Trump was elected, and both exit polls and the Trump campaign itself say otherwise.  Trump got elected, simply, because he was going to “Make America Great Again.”

But here’s the problem. What does that mean?  How was he going to make America great again?  What was his plan?  When and why was America great?  By what standard is he measuring greatness?  Nobody seems to know, but then again, this is the key to understanding Trump followers- they believe in him JUST like they believe in their religions.  Trump says something vague and stupid, and his followers impose their own meaning and depth as they believe he meant it.

The bible says vague and stupid things, and Christians just impose their “interpretation” to it.  The Koran is a book of hatred and horror, but Muslims (most) interpret it as a “religion of peace.”  The key here is 1) belief that something is right, 2) confirmation bias to find something- anything!- to validate the belief, and 3) mental gymnastics to maintain that belief.

This really struck me after Trump’s embarrassing (by any standard of public speaking until 2016) CPAC speech, where he mentioned to the audience that it was he that gave Secretary Mattis the nickname “Mad Dog.”  Now, this is obviously false.  Taken at face value, it is an obvious and demonstrable lie.  But one of my Trumpeteer friends laughed and said that Trump didn’t mean it, he was just TROLLING all of us “Trump haters.”  And I fell for it!

But then I used a little technique I employ when I discuss the bible with Christians.

In the instance of the bible, my technique is to ask the believer if they follow god’s commandments (they of course confirm they at least try to), and then I ask about the commandments to not eat shellfish or get tattoos or wear blended clothing.  Oh, THOSE commandments we don’t have to listen to, just the 10 commandments.  I ask about homosexuality, that isn’t one of the 10.  There is an excuse.  What about the 2nd commandment not to make any graven images of any god, animal, or fish?  Stumbling excuses.  This line of simple inquiry demonstrates just how little they have actually thought about the actual text, and how much they just impose what they think is right onto the text.  The text becomes secondary, their belief about what the text says (without having read it themselves, usually) is primary.  And my questioning exposes it.

In the case of Trump’s “Mad Dog Mattis” claim, I asked my friend if Trump was just trolling when he said he would build a concrete wall?  Of course not!  Then why did he later say it could be a fence, made of steel?  Was he trolling about concrete?  Was he trolling about Mexico paying for it?  How can we tell?  Was he trolling when he asked Russia to hack emails?  Was he trolling when he said the press was the enemy of the people?  Stumbling excuses and an abruptly ended conversation.

Notice in both cases, the cognitive dissonance is irreconcilable.  Trump’s actual words and what they want him to say are two different things, and their version becomes primary.  When confronted with the conflict, the believer must create lists of possible excuses, and when further questioning fails those excuses, the believer exists the conversation due to discomfort.  This happens because the BELIEF is the most important thing to them.  Belief is the go-to skill, and damned the evidence.  And the belief skill is so well honed in the religious that it’s easy to adopt that mentality to this schmuck.  It doesn’t matter what exists in reality, what he says, or what he does.  And he helped the domestic aluminum industry, so praise be Trump!

Once it was established that Trump was going to magically fix Washington, the believers lined up and tightened their binders.  I say magically because Trump NEVER TOLD THEM how he was going to go about fixing anything.  His answer to every problem was “I’m smart, I know more than them, believe me.”  And believe him they do.  And that’s it.  That was his job interview.  Meanwhile, nearly everything that Trump says belies these statements.  He clearly doesn’t posses a high level of intelligence, as is obvious by the fact that he speaks at a 4th grade level, is easily tripped up by subjects involving more than 2 factors, demonstrates a high level of ignorance about topics, and as we now know, he threatened his school not to release his grades or test scores.  He doesn’t know more than most people, as has been hilariously demonstrated a number of times as he fumbles through topics until one of his advisers or even a reporter steps in to help him out, and by many of his statements that make absolutely no sense with a basic understanding of a topic.  I don’t care what your position is on tariffs, the point is if you have a rudimentary understanding of what tariffs are (a tax on imported goods), you will be very confused by Trump’s statements (taking money from other countries or something?).    And he is very not believable.  He averages over 5 lies or misleading statements a day, and as the wall issue demonstrates, when Trump says numerous times that he will do something in a certain way….  he probably won’t.

The list of now well documented ways Trump is a con-man and a liar are not only available to the public, they are constantly being refreshed as the man performs his daily routine of making an ass of himself.  The list of businesses he bought or built, screwed his workers, and ran the business into bankruptcy is staggering.  His affairs make Clinton and Kennedy look like innocent, blushing saints.  All fact checking websites have had to hire extra staff just to keep up with the crap that spews from his mouth and twitter account.

It is only by a concerted effort of willful ignorance that anyone could continue to support Trump.  He doesn’t follow any of the political, religious, or moral standards that anyone espoused to prior to his election, but now they willingly let him steer the country off course from the direction EVEN THEY wanted a mere 4 years ago.  It is only with the skills of magical thinking and cognitive dissonance, honed by the teachings of religions, that have allowed the sheep to line up behind the wolf with vague promises and fake enthusiasm.  You know, like a cult.

Trump’s followers exhibit all the signs. Zealous commitment to the leader. Strongly discouraging dissent. The leader must approve all actions and is always right. The ends (an unknown, mythological state of the country) are justified by the means (a lying, cheating, bully). The ‘us’ vs ‘them’ mentality.  The leader is above the law.  Shaming and guilting those outside or those that question.  Cutting ties with non-believers (informally in this case). The leader’s goals are the only important goals. Fear. Emphasizing issues outside the norm.

To get rid of the most inept, insecure, ignorant, and probably dangerous president we’ve ever had, we need to treat the Trumpeteers like cult members.  We need to treat them like a friend that is dating an abusive person.  They aren’t stupid, they’ve just been sucked in to the stupidity.  They are in the black hole of stupidity, the Trump presidency.

Unfortunately, the skills required to blindly follow are strong in America.  Hug a flag, call yourself a patriot, and you can shred the constitution without mercy.  We can’t spread REASON fast enough.

The Spartan Atheist